Mauritania
Overview
Mauritania represents a complex situation with different levels of food availability, access and utilization across the country.
Team
The WFP Logistics team in Mauritania numbers approximately 25 staff working in offices in Nouakchott, Kiffa, Kaedi and Aioun
Activities
Port operations
The country’s main port is the Port de l’Amitié situated 15 km from the city center with a monthly cargo turn over of more than 26,000 m/t. The port has just one pier which connects to the shore.
Nouakchott port is an ‘import’ port representing about 96 % of all annual traffic. Imported goods include wheat, cement, flour, sugar, mild and general equipment. There are only two shore cranes belonging to the Port Authorities. Most of the handling equipment available at the port is the property of some renting companies. The most important one is the Société d’Equipement Portuaire (SEP) which holds most of the equipment on the port. Renting costs depend on the type of engine and its capacity. There are no silos available at the port.
Storage
WFP rents only one warehouse in Nouakchott with a 3,000 mt capacity. In addition, WFP set up a Wiikhall with a storage capacity of 500 mt and uses four (4) warehouses out of 19 in the CSA compound. Moreover, the compound allows the possibility to extend the storage capacity with an additional 8,000 m2 open storage capacity.
All the WFP food storage needs outside Nouakchott are covered by CSA facilities. The warehouses are disseminated in all regions and main towns of concern for WFP: Rosso - Aleg - Tidjikja – Kiffa – Aioun – Nema – Kaedi – Selibaby. The warehouses are owned and managed by the CSA. Some of the CSA warehouses are under direct management of the DPA (Ministry of Education) for the storage of WFP food.
Surface Transport
Mauritania possesses only about 2,743 km of surfaced roads; 1,148 km of unsurfaced roads and 5,140 km of unimproved tracks.
There are five major roads, each of which links important cities in Mauritania:
- Nouakchott – Nema (known as the road of hope) 1,200 km leading to Mali by passing Aleg, Kiffa, Aioun, Nema. The stretch from Nouakchott through Aleg, Kiffa, Aioun, up to Nema is asphalted. The section between Nema and Basiskounou is rough road on approximately 300 km distance.
- Nouakchott – Kaedi, 435 km asphalted.
- Nouakchott – Akjout, 256 km with extension to Atar and leading to West Sahara through the desert.
- Nouakchott – Rosso, 204 km , asphalted, leading to St-Louis, Senegal
- Nouakchott – Nouadhibou, 470 km, asphalted, leading to Sahara occidental( Morocco)
Apart from these roads, the rest is composed of tracks with difficult accessibility in regards to condition and areas. In general, 4 WD vehicles can access these areas. Most of the WFP areas of intervention are located in these roads and the areas pose difficulties for commercial trucks.
Rail
WFP does not use rail services in Mauritania.
Aviation
There are currently no aviation services in Mauritania.
